Apple's said to have purchased Cue, a San Francisco-based smart assistant service aimed at mobile devices. October 3, 2013 11:59 AM PDT (Credit: Cue) Less than a day after personal assistant service Cue announced plans to shut down, a new report points to Apple as the reason. AppleInsider says the mobile service, which launched last June, was snapped up by Apple for a price as high as $35 million. Neither company responded to requests for comment on the report. Cue provided quick information panels, similar to Google Now, which were compiled from e-mail, contact and calendar information. In its own words, the service "prepares an overview of your upcoming events by linking together related phone numbers, addresses, tickets, invitations, receipts, files and more." Users could also integrate various online accounts -- including Facebook, Dropbox, Twitter and Reddit -- to aggregate activity. Additional services could be added with the company's $50 a year (or $5 a month) premium plans. If true, Apple could be looking to bolster the new "today" view implemented in iOS 7's notification center. That feature creates a summary of information that changes dynamically based on what's on a user's location and calendar. It also shows snapshots of reminders and stocks from other built-in iOS apps, though is far less extensive or customizable compared to Google's technology, which is baked into Android devices and available within its iOS search app.
Apple's said to have purchased Cue, a San Francisco-based smart assistant service aimed at mobile devices.
(Credit: Cue) Less than a day after personal assistant service Cue announced plans to shut down, a new report points to Apple as the reason.
AppleInsider says the mobile service, which launched last June, was snapped up by Apple for a price as high as $35 million.
Neither company responded to requests for comment on the report.
Cue provided quick information panels, similar to Google Now, which were compiled from e-mail, contact and calendar information. In its own words, the service "prepares an overview of your upcoming events by linking together related phone numbers, addresses, tickets, invitations, receipts, files and more."
Users could also integrate various online accounts -- including Facebook, Dropbox, Twitter and Reddit -- to aggregate activity. Additional services could be added with the company's $50 a year (or $5 a month) premium plans.
If true, Apple could be looking to bolster the new "today" view implemented in iOS 7's notification center. That feature creates a summary of information that changes dynamically based on what's on a user's location and calendar. It also shows snapshots of reminders and stocks from other built-in iOS apps, though is far less extensive or customizable compared to Google's technology, which is baked into Android devices and available within its iOS search app.
